1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TV program recording system such as a home VTR to reserve and record television broadcasting programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, recording and reproducing apparatus such as video tape recorders (VTR) are provided with a timer reservation device. Using this device, the user can make recording reservation for automatic recording of television (TV) broadcasting programs by inputting a recording reservation information including the channel, the start time and the end time of a program to be recorded.
There are two ways of timer recording reservation. By operating the keys on the VTR itself or on the attached remote controller, the user may (1) input the above recording reservation information one by one or (2) input a several-digit value (identification code) encoding the recording reservation information above. For the former method (1), it is required to set the channel, the date, the start time and the end time of the broadcast program. For the latter method (2), the user just inputs the above identification code. Unlike the method (1), it is not required to set the channel, the date, the start time and the end time of the program. The user can make reservation by inputting the numbers of the identification code referring to the program table on newspapers or the like. The recording reservation setting method using such identification code is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,173 (Japan Published Patent Gazette No. Hei 4-502681). For any timer reservation, the user must make key operation several times.
Conventionally, when the next broadcasting of the recorded TV program is scheduled in the following week or on the following day, the user needs to make the timer recording reservation again to record such next time broadcasting by timer reservation. It is troublesome to repeat several key operations according to the conventional method (1) or (2).
Though VTRs are usually provided with periodic reservation function for every day or every week in the timer recording reservation method, it is inconvenient for the user to repeat the operation according to the method (1) or (2) just to set the recording reservation for the next time only.
Japan Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 61-142489 discloses means to reduce the number of key operations when making a reservation. According to this invention, the reservation can be made with a reduced number of key operations and can be made simple. In this invention, time zones when the user frequently views TV programs are separately set and stored in advance and, for reservation of a program in such time zones, the stored time zone is transferred to the reservation memory for reservation setting operation.
In this case, however, it is necessary to set time zones when the user frequently views TV separately in advance. Further, the data the user can set in advance are limited to the time and minute for the time zone and the user has to operate the day setting key and the channel setting key for every reservation for the day of the week and the broadcasting channel. This invention did not largely reduce the number of operations.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a TV program recording system which enables the timer recording reservation with quite simple operation when the user makes timer reservation for the next time broadcasting of a recorded TV program in the following week or on the following day.
According to a first embodiment, a TV program recording system comprises recording/reproducing means which records the signal from the supply source selected from a plurality of signal supply sources on a recording medium and reproduces the recorded signal from the recording medium, storage means provided with a clock means which, when recording the signal, stores the recording information containing at least the time information and the signal supply source information related to the signal recording, recording means which generates the ID information to identify the recording information in the storage means and records it onto the recording medium, operation means which instructs reading of the ID information from the recording medium, reproducing means which reads the ID information from the recording medium according to such instruction, means which reads from the storage means the recording information identified by the ID information read from the recording medium, timer reservation setting means which sets the timer reservation by storing the recording information from the storage means as the timer reservation information to a reservation memory, and recording control means which controls the signal recording operation of the recording and reproducing means according to the timer reservation information set as described above.
In the first embodiment, when the next time broadcasting of the recorded TV program is broadcast in the following week or on the following day, for example, the user can record the next time broadcasting with timer reservation by pressing a particular key to read out from the recording medium the ID information when the TV program is recorded so that the recording information having the same ID as above is identified from the storage means and the information including the recorded channel, the start time and the end time is obtained and stored to the reservation memory. The system makes recording on the following day or in the following week of the program on the same channel and at the same start/end time as those of the program recorded first. Just a simple operation to press the particular key enables secure reservation of recording without a mistake. In other words, the recording information required for the next time recording is automatically stored during the recording process this time and the user does not need to set the time zone separately in advance. All the user has to do is just an action to press the particular key when repeating reservation setting for the next time broadcasting.
If the recording/reproducing means above is the recording/reproducing means of a VTR, the ID information may be included in. the control signal and recorded on the magnetic tape or may be lapped over the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of the TV video signal for recording and recorded on the recording medium.
In case of the VTR, the recording of the ID information by overlapping in the VBI of the video signal increases the amount of data to be stored when compared to the amount of data included in the control signal for recording on the control track.
The recording information stored in the storage means includes the start time and the end time when the applicable key is pressed and the recorded channel at that time when the recording is made manually with the record key, the stop key etc. When the recording is made by timer reservation, the recording information includes the start time. the end time and the channel number set in the reservation memory in advance for the timer reservation.
The ID information may be recorded i) at a position having a predetermined time from the recording start position of the recorded signal such as the video signal, ii) at a position having a predetermined time before the recording end position of the recorded signal, or iii) continuously for the whole interval of recording or repeatedly with fixed intervals concurrently with recording of the recorded signal. In case of iii), the time information indicating the elapse of recording time may be included in the ID information so that they are recorded for the whole interval of recording.
When the resetting process for reservation of the next time broadcasting is started by pressing of the particular key, the system searches the recording medium for the ID information and, in case of i) above, stops the recording medium at the ID reading position so that the timer recording reservation is set at that position and enters the timer recording standby status. This enables overwriting of the previously recorded signal. In case of ii) above, the system reads out the ID information, stops the recording medium at the position where reading ends. With setting the timer recording reservation for the next time at that position, the system enters the timer recording standby status. This enables serial recording following the previously recorded signal. In case of iii) above, the system reads out the ID information and, with referring to its recording time elapse information, determines the stop position according to the user""s operation. The timer recording reservation is set at that position and the system enters the timer recording standby status. Thus, when the timer recording is started next time, the recording is started from the applicable stop position corresponding to the recording position of i) to iii) above.
According to a second embodiment, a TV program recording system comprises recording/reproducing means which stores the program information consisting of the time information containing at least the start time of broadcasting as well as the channel number for a TV program to be broadcast in the future to a reservation information storage means in advance and, according to the program information, records the program to the recording medium and reproduces it, ID information recording means which generates the ID information for program identification in the program recording and stores such information to the recording medium, program information storage means which stores the program information for the program corresponding to such ID information with associating the ID information, ID information reproduction means which reproduces the ID information from the recording medium, and reservation setting means which reads the program information corresponding to the reproduced ID information and stores it to the reservation information storage means.